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Chapter Text

“Leonidas, draw aggro! Everyone, hold formation, these golems hit hard!”

Ishtar, Leonidas, Emiya Alter, and Li Shuwen came closer together with Tamamo and their master protected behind them.

“Tamamo, boost Emiya and Li! Li, Emiya, attack the golems while they’re distracted by Leonidas!”

“Yes ,Master!” her servants replied. Tamamo cast Fox’s Wedding and the two warriors attacked the golems mercilessly as Leonidas held up his shield against the golems’ attacks. Despite their efforts however, more golems were pulling themselves out of the dirt. 

Violet looked around. “Where’s Alex?” she shouted. 

Tamamo’s eyes gazed across the grassy battlefield before she suddenly pointed. “There!”

The boy was off to their left slashing at the golems with reckless abandon. She could see his energized grin as he kneed an approaching golem, his strike causing a flash of lightning as his blow met his enemy.

Violet put aside the fact that he hadn’t rejoined the formation like she had ordered and called out to him. “Alex! Noble Phantasm! Clear as many as you can!”

Alex gave her a look of acknowledgement as he destroyed another golem before sticking two fingers and blowing. At the sound of his whistle, Bucephalus appeared at his side. The boy mounted the dark steed and the two plunged into the crowd of golems. As they began to charge, lighting struck the golems at either side of them.

“For the place I shall reach one day,” he shouted, “I will leave the step of my existence here! BUCEPHALUS”

The horse made a mighty leap above the heads of the golems before landing amidst the crowd with a thunderous lightning strike, wiping out a large chunk of them.

“Good job Alex!” Violet shouted.

A few moments passed, the other servants continued to fight but Alex didn’t come back.

“Alex? Alex!” Violet called.

The only reply she heard was the sound of distant raucous laughter as there were more flashes of lightning and the sound of heavy thunder amongst the golems.

Alexander was having the time of his life! He hadn’t been outside of Chaldea in so long [a week]! He was gonna get so many octuplet crystals.

“Ugh!” Alexander stumbled forward as a golem behind him struck his back. He quickly recovered, ignoring the pain as he whipped around and dashed the golem to pieces. However, he didn’t get a moment to breath as three more golems took its place.

Alex hunkered down into a battle stance and looked around. He was surrounded on all sides by golems. 

He destroyed another golem as it got too close before hopping back on Bucephalus’s back. He looked around for the rest of the team, but the golems were too tall and the rest of the team too far away for him to see, even on the back of his massive horse.

He got ready to noble phantasm again but realized that without his master nearby, he couldn’t muster enough mana. This was bad.

Staying upon his horse, he slashed and hacked at the golems but more of them just kept coming. There was no end to them!

“There you are ,you brat!”

Three golden portals opened above the area and three copies of Rider Ishtar flew out. In a grand show of martial arts, the three Ishtars swiftly dispatched the surrounding golems. After their attack they came together into one Ishtar, who summoned her moped. 

“An Gal Ta - Seven Colors!”

A shower of sparkles fell on the field. By the time Alexander could see again, every golem on the battlefield was destroyed. 

“Alex!”

Alexander turned around to see his master and the other servants running towards them. He waved to them before he felt something hit his head.

“Ouch!” he winced and turned to Ishtar. She was looking down at him disapprovingly with a clenched fist.

“So careless, charging alone headfirst into a pack of golems! Master was worried, you know!” she scolded.

Before Alexander could respond, the others caught up with them.

“You should have just let me noble phantasm in the first place. I would have cleaned them up in one sweep,” Ishtar complained haughtily.

Violet looked up from examining Alexander. He was cut up and bruised in some places but otherwise no worse than the rest of them. He’d be fine without her using her mystic code on him. She gave him a soft pat on the cheek and moved her hands from his face.

“We still have more golems to take care of further downstream. I was going to save your noble phantasm for those. Besides, Alexander has a lower mana cost. I didn’t expect you to run off on your own though,” she said pointedly.

Alexander looked away. “Sorry,” he murmured.

“Apology accepted. Don’t do it again, it’s dangerous. ‘Kay?”

Alexander nodded.

“Okay then. Let’s head downstream. Tally-ho.”

………………..

“So, what story do you three want to hear today?” Ruler Martha asked the three little girls, Abigail, Santa Lily, and Bunyan, sitting on the floor in front of her as she opened the Bible in her hand.

“How about the story of Martha and her sister Mary?” suggested Georgios who sat in a chair next to her.

“No!” Martha exclaimed with a blush.

Abigail raised her hand. “What about David and Goliath?”

“Yes, that one will do nicely,” Martha said, as she flipped to the right chapters. She gave a bit of context before she began to read.

“At this time, King Saul was king of Israel. Saul had been a handsome man who the prophet Samuel had anointed on the request of the Israelites, who wanted to be like the other ,nations and have a ruler. However, Saul had sinned in the eyes of God. God was displeased with his actions and commanded his prophet to anoint a new ruler. Samuel followed God’s directions until he came to the city of Bethlehem. The Lord led him to the home of a man named Jesse, who was of the tribe of Benjamin. 

Samuel asked to see all of Jesse’s sons. Before the prophet came seven men, all strong and fine in appearance. Samuel went to each one thinking that surely Israel’s next king was among them. However, the Lord rejected all of them. Samuel was surprised but God reminded Samuel not to judge by outward appearances but by looking at their heart.

Samuel asked Jesse if he had any other sons. Jesse admitted that he had one more son, the youngest, David,  who was out tending to the sheep. Samuel said to send for him. 

A servant went out to get him and came back with a healthy young man of fine appearance.

“This is the one,” said the Lord.

So Samuel took a horn of oil-”

“What does a horn of oil look like?” asked Bunyan with her hand raised.

“You know the horns that a goat would have?” asked Georgios. “The horn of oil would look like that but hollowed out and perhaps with some embellishment like a carving or gold on it,” he explained. “I can show you a picture of one later”

“Yes,” said Martha before continuing the story. “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him before his brothers. From that day on the Spirit of the Lord was upon David.

With the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, the king was tormented by an evil spirit. His attendants worried for him and went out to search for somebody who could play for him and sooth his troubled soul. One of his servants recommended one of Jesse’s sons, who was known for his skill with the lyre. That son was David.

Messengers were sent to Jesse and he sent David with a loaded donkey to the court of Saul. David worked well in Saul’s court and gained favor with the king. Saul appointed him as one of his armor-bearers. Whenever the evil spirit tortured Saul, David would take up his lyre and relieve Saul with his music.

Now a time came when the Philistines rose up against Israel to make war. The two armies stood on either side of the Valley of Elah facing each other. A champion of the Philistines, Goliath came from amongst his people and challenged the army of Israel to battle. Goliath was a huge, giant of a man, over nine feet tall. He wore a great helmet and coat of armor of bronze. On his back was a spear the length of a weaver’s rod,” Martha stretched out her arms to try to demonstrate the length.

“Upon hearing his challenge, the Israelites trembled in terror. Not a single of them stood to challenge the behemoth.

Now remember, David had seven older brothers. Of the seven, three of his eldest brothers had followed Saul to war. David went back and forth between Saul’s court and tending his father’s sheep.

For 40 days the Philistine challenged the Israelites ,but no one answered his call.

Jesse sent his son David to deliver food to his brothers and bring back word of them. David took off early in the morning and delivered the food to them. David was speaking to his brothers when Goliath, the champion of the Philistines stepped out once more and bellowed his challenge to the Israelites. The Israelite soldiers around him cowered in fear.

David, angry at Goliath’s insults and mockery asked the soldiers around him about the situation. His older brother scolded him, believing him to have abandoned his duties just so he could watch the battle, but David’s words had been overheard and he was brought to Saul.

Boldly, David declared to the king that through God’s power he would defeat Goliath just as he had once defeated a lion and a bear. Saul was hesitant but let him go. The king dressed him in his armor and gave him his sword, but David could not move well in them. He removed the armor and sword and instead took up his staff and chose five smooth stones from the stream. With these things he bravely approached the Philistine in the valley.

Goliath looked David over, and seeing that he was no more than a boy, was insulted. He cursed David by his gods and swore to kill him for the insult.

In reply, David said, “In the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied, this day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head!”

Enraged, Goliath charged at him. David ran to meet him. As he ran, he reached into his bag and took out a stone, using his sling, he slung the stone and struck the Philistine right on the forehead!” Martha stood up and mimed the motion of twirling and releasing a sling.

“The giant fell facedown on the ground. Still a boy, without a sword, and with a simple sling and stone, David triumphed over Goliath! David stood over Goliath’s body and drew the giant’s sword. He cut off his head,” Martha mimicked the action of drawing a sword, picking up a head by its hair, and cutting its neck, perhaps a bit too graphically, “and brought Saul his head.”

“Like how Ms. Ushi does for Master?!?!” asked Santa Lily.

“Yes!” Martha said excitedly, caught up in moment.

“Please don’t start doing that as well. Master’s still trying to get her to stop,” Georgios interjected. Master didn’t want the kids getting any more weird ideas than her older servants had already given them.

“Y-yes,” Martha cleared her throat and calmed herself. “Don’t start presenting Master heads, or any other body parts for that fact.”

Abigail tilted her head in thought. “Is the David in the story the same David who plays the harp in the common room sometimes?”

“Yes,” replied Georgios.

“The one who helps Da Vinci with the budget?” asked Bunyan.

“Yes,” replied Martha.

“The won who got blasted when he tried to flirt with Ms. Medea,” asked Santa Lily.

“Y-yes…” Georgios nodded slowly.

“The one who tried to...flirt,” the word was a new one to Abby, it wasn’t common in Salem. The Throne only told her what the action meant when she heard the word for the first time. “-with Ms. Medusa?”

“And Ms. Tamamo?” added Bunyan.

“And Ms. Nitocris?” added Santa Lily.

“And Ms-”

“Okay we get it,” cut in Georgios, raising his hands and glancing nervously at Martha.

Martha had her fists raised and gauntlets equipped. She was trembling with rage. ‘Just what kind of improper things had David done in front of these children?!’ she thought.

………………..

“ ACHOO!”

“David, you okay man? You’ve been sneezing a lot,” asked Arash as he picked up a box off of the shelf.

“Dust allergy?” asked Romulus.

“Not that I know of, no,” he replied, wiping his nose.

“Maybe somebody’s talking about you,” suggested Rider Kintoki.

“You think?” the archer asked.

Chapter Text

“This is nice, isn’t it Asterios?” asked Euryale, sitting in the lap of her giant companion, weaving together wildflowers into a crown.

“Yes, Euryale,” replied the gentle giant as he held his finger out to a curious field mouse that had approached.

The two sat in a large meadow filled with wildflowers of every shade and color. Euryale was glad that she was able to convince one of the staff members to allow her and Asterios to rayshift here. Chaldea’s greenhouse was nice and all but nothing beat the open air and a real field of flowers.

“Big Sister?” 

Euryale turned to look at her younger sister, who was sitting on the grass next to them. “Yes?”

“What type of flower is this?” Medusa Lily asked, holding up a light purple flower.

Euryale looked at it. “Musk mallow.Their stems are rather thin. They should be easy for you to make a flower crown out of them,” she replied before turning back to her own flower crown.

She finished her crown and tapped Asterios’s large hand. Obediently, he leaned down. She stood up and placed the crown over one of his horns.

Euryale plopped down back on his lap and went to work on a matching one for the other horn. “By the way, Medusa, why do you still have your hood on? The sun isn’t too strong, it feels nice.”

Medusa pulled her hood lower over her head. “No reason,” she murmured.

“Abby, can you pass me the yellow dress, Viviane has to get ready for the garden party,” said Santa Lily.

A few feet away from MeduLily, Euryale, and Asterios played Santa Lily, Bunyan, and Abigail. The girls were sitting in a circle playing with a set of dolls. Euryale wove another flower into her crown. That had been the condition of her and Asterios being allowed to go out. They had to bring the kids with them. Thus, the two were their caretakers for the day. Alexander, Gil, and Little Hassan would have come with them if they hadn’t already been doing stuff with the older servants.

Euryale gave her sister a look. Her sister had arrived in Chaldea relatively recently so it wasn’t really a surprise that she didn’t really interact with the other servants, before becoming a servant, her only positive interactions were with her older sisters after all. However, that was a hurdle that Euryale herself had long overcome. She had Asterios and her other friends now.

“Hey you three! Do you guys want to learn how to make flower crowns?” she called out to the three girls.

The girls looked up before smiling and nodding eagerly.

“Good! Pick what flowers you want, Medusa here’s gonna teach you!”

“Yay!” exclaimed the girls as they ran around the field to pick their flowers.

Medusa Lily looked at her older sister with wide eyes. “Why did you-?”

“Because watching you suffer is entertaining,” Euryale said with a satisfied smile as she yanked Medusa’s hood off her head. “Have fun~”

Bunyan came back with her arms full of flowers. “How do we start?” she asked eagerly.

Abigail and Santa Lily joined them.

“The ones that you and your sister make always come out so pretty!” Abigail said, looking at Medusa’s already finished crown.

“U-um…” Medusa Lily blushed and pulled her hood back over her head.

“Oh no you don’t,” Euryale said as she reached over and pulled the hood back off.

Medusa looked nervously at the other girls’ expectant faces before plucking two more flowers and holding them up for them to see. “Y-you start like this…”

Medusa Lily began to weave the flowers together, adding more as she went. The other girls followed her lead and began chatting as they worked. Medusa tried to stay silent but found herself drawn into their conversation again and again. Soon she was giggling along with them as they talked about the latest happenings in Chaldea.

Asterios watched over the girls with a smile before turning to Euryale, who was once again adorning his horns with flowers.

“Euryale love Medusa,” he said quietly.

Euryale looked him in the eye and frowned. “Hmph, and what of it?” she said, with her hands on her hips.

“Nothing,” Asterios replied with a grin.

Euryale sat back down in his lap and pressed her back against his torso. “Whatever.”